Glory Head Coach David Zdrilic is backing his charges to build on Saturday’s sensational home win over former league leaders Auckland FC by downing Western Sydney Wanderers when the men in purple return to HBF Park on Tuesday (kick-off at 6:45pm, tickets available HERE).
View his full pre-match media conference HERE.
Jaylan Pearman’s stunning maiden A-League goal proved enough to secure a first home victory of the campaign last time out as Glory produced a stirring display both in terms of their attacking output and defensive work.
And Zdrilic believes that getting the better of the in-form Kiwi side could prove to be a turning point in the season.
“The atmosphere after the win with the fans and everything, I mean everybody was so happy and relieved that it all came together,” he said.
“And not just to win; I thought deserved to win.
“We created a lot of chances and played probably the best football we’ve played all season.
“It wasn’t just getting the three points, it was the way we did it.
“That was important for the guys and now we’re ready to kick on.
“At home has been our issue; we weren’t able to get points or score goals, but in the last two games, we’ve been able to do that.
“We had a disallowed goal that was very tight and we had other chances, so we were creating and looking more positive and now we want to continue that at home.”
Tuesday’s game will be Glory’s fourth in just 11 days, but the Head Coach believes that his players have actually enjoyed meeting the challenge posed by the hectic schedule.
“Everyone’s putting their hand up to play,” he said.
“We’ve got another training session today [Monday], so we’ll assess everyone and go from there, but I’m hoping it’ll be a similar line up.
“We’ve embraced this little period.
“We knew it was coming… the mentality of the group is that we know what we’re in for.
“We didn’t get the result in the first two of these four games, but the performances against Western United and in the first half against Sydney FC were every good and obviously then against Auckland.
“Mentally, we’re well aware of what we’re capable of and we’ll put aside any of that feeling that there’s too much football.
“The guys are relishing playing football, especially now back at home after a win.”
But although his side’s confidence levels may have soared off the back of the Auckland win, Zdrilic remains keenly aware of the threat that Wanderers, coached by his Glory predecessor, Alen Stajcic, will pose.
“They’re a very talented squad, especially up front,” he said.
“They’ve got a lot of star quality.
“They have four very good attacking players that start and they can bring on another one or two to add to it.
“When they go forward, they’re very quick and they like to get in behind.
“So for us, we’ll have to be at our best, but again, it’s similar to Auckland.
“We were expecting a very strong physical team in Auckland, but we matched them and we’re expecting the same from Wanderers.”
Stajcic’s men will travel to HBF Park having provided more than their fair share of entertainment in the last five games which have yielded an aggregate of 23 goals.
In that run, they drew with Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory, beat Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United and suffered just the one defeat, to Macarthur FC.
Leading the goalscoring chart for the red-and-blacks is Nicolas Milanovic who has found the net six times and also added three assists, while Socceroo Brandon Borrello has bagged five and Bozhidar Kraev and Zac Sapsford have each claimed three.
World Cup-winning Spanish superstar Juan Mata has often been used as a substitute, starting just four times thus far this term, while former Glory man Jack Clisby is Stajcic’s preferred left back and Lawrence Thomas is likely to be in goal on Tuesday evening.
Wanderers ran out 2-1 winners in last season’s corresponding fixture, but that was the first time they had claimed maximum points in the West since February 2014.
The two clubs have met on 34 occasions overall in the A-League and are currently locked up at 13 wins apiece.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2024/25 Season Round 14
Perth Glory v Western Sydney Wanderers
HBF Park
Tuesday 14 January 2025
Kick-off: 6:45pm
Perth Glory squad: 1.Oli SAIL (gk), 3.Anas HAMZAOUI, 6.Brandon O’NEILL, 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON, 12.Taras GOMULKA, 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 14.Nathanael BLAIR, 15.Zach LISOLAJSKI, 16.Adam BUGARIJA, 17.Jarrod CARLUCCIO, 19.Josh RISDON, 20.Trent OSTLER, 21.Abdul FAISAL, 22.Adam TAGGART, 24.Andriano LEBIB, 25.Jaylan PEARMAN, 26.Khoa NGO, 27.Will FRENEY, 29.Tomi MRCELA, 31.Joel ANASMO
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 21.Abdul FAISAL, 27.Will FRENEY
Outs: Nil
Unavailable 9.David WILLIAMS (injured), 10.Nikola MILEUSNIC (injured)
Western Sydney Wanderers squad: 4.Alex BONETIG, 7.Zac SAPSFORD, 9.Marcus ANTONSSON, 10.Alex BADOLATO, 12.Ben HOLLIDAY, 13.Dean PELEKANOS, 14.Nicolas MILANOVIC, 18.Oscar PRIESTMAN, 19. Jack CLISBY, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21.Aydan HAMMOND, 22.Anthony PANTAZOPOULOS, 23.Bozhidar KRAEV, 25.Josh BRILLANTE, 26.Brandon BORRELLO, 27.James TEMELKOVSKI, 30.Jordan HOLMES (GK), 31. Aidan SIMMONS, 41.Jesse CAMERON, 64.Juan MATA
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 13.Dean PELEKANOS (returns from suspension), 41.Jesse CAMERON (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 2.Gab CLEUR (injured), 5.Dylan SCICLUNA (injured), 8.Jeong TAE-WOOK (injured)
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